At Brown, a majority of students hold no particular religious affiliation. But those who do represent a diverse array of faiths.
The Herald's fall 2024 poll showed that the diversity of religious views on campus exceeded that of the country. To better understand religious life at Brown, The Herald spoke to students and chaplains along with spiritual and religious leaders about their experiences in religious communities on campus.
Chaplain of the University Janet Cooper Nelson noted that religious identity encompasses “belief, behavior and belonging” and highlighted that religious and spiritual life manifests in a multitude of ways on campus.
Kevin Kim ’25, who is on the leadership team of the Salt and Light Christian Fellowship, said he was invited to a fellowship gathering his sophomore year during a period of personal difficulty.
While he was not initially religious when he attended the gathering, Kim remained with the group because of the community he found. “There was such a love and care that each person had for each other that I’d never seen on Brown’s campus,” he said. “It was very lightening for the burdens in my life.”
Building communities around shared identities is a common theme in religious organizations, students say.
Layla Ahmed ’27, the service chair of the Muslim Students Association, said that “MSA has a lot of spaces where you can casually talk to someone and from there build deeper friendships.”
Ahmed, who became involved in MSA in her first year at Brown, felt that she could connect with people in the club “more easily due to common ground.”
Nathan Seelig ’27 was surprised to find that Brown-RISD Hillel was “as robust as it is” and often attends their weekly Shabbat dinner. Although Seelig doesn’t describe himself as particularly religious, he continues to return to Hillel in part due to the community he’s found there.
When first transitioning to college, Orli Hockenstein ’27 found it difficult at first to observe the Jewish holidays that she observed back home. But after becoming involved with Chabad, a center for Jewish students, she found it easier to continue her observance of Jewish traditions.
She described feeling initially wary that her observance of Judaism wouldn’t fit in with the more traditional religiosity observed by Chabad. But she described feeling welcome despite her original trepidation. “Chabad is so welcoming to everybody,” she said, adding that “plenty of people that come to Chabad aren’t observant at all.”
Fabio Villatoro ’26, an international student from El Salvador and the outreach chair of the Brown-RISD Catholic Community, was initially intimidated to join the group. But after making an effort to meet new people, he was able to build meaningful connections with others in the group.
Imam Amir Toft, the associate chaplain for the Muslim community, described one of his roles as encouraging and fostering the presence of a “broad community” where people of different levels of practice, backgrounds and dispositions can get involved. To accomplish this goal, Toft initiated Friday lunches following weekly prayer services so that “people have the time to cultivate that companionship as believers who share something in common.”
He described witnessing the formation of these connections as “one of the most satisfying things” about his role.
Vivian Miller ’26, who attends Quaker meetings at Moses Brown School organized by Providence Friends, describes these meetings as a welcome escape from the “bubble” of college life.
The meetings include an hour of silent reflection and meditation, which Miller describes as a time she can be with herself away from campus. “I’m a part of this broader community, and I’m a person in a larger world than just Brown,” she said.
Other organizations on campus, like the Brown Hindu Student Association, focus on maintaining religions’ cultural practices.
Geeta Chougule, the Religious Life Affiliate for the association, said that the club focuses on organizing Hindu religious rituals, such as pujas, and prayer services. Religious Life Affiliates work with the Office of Chaplains and Religious Life to lead the various religious groups on campus.
Recently, the club organized a puja for the autumn Navratri season, which is an annual festival in honor of Durga, a form of divine female energy in the religion. “A few students have said to me that when they attend these pujas, it kind of gives them … a taste of home,” Chougule said.
Some campus communities also explore the spiritual dimensions of religion.
Lia Antico, a postdoctoral research associate who has led the Christian Mindfulness Meditation group since 2022, aims to combine meditation, spirituality and mindfulness in an intergenerational and interfaith space.
She noted that the word “spirituality” comes from the Latin word “spiritus,” which means “vital breath.” At its root, spirituality does not necessarily refer to involvement with any organized religion.
For students that may be “afraid” of spirituality, Antico tells them that it is “what animates you, what brings you life inside.”
“It can be religion,” she said, “but it can also be something else.”
The group meets on Tuesday evenings in Manning Chapel, where they engage in a guided meditation and mindfully listen to a Bible passage. “They can have a time for themselves to pause and to listen to others,” Antico said.
At its monthly meetings, the College Hill Buddhists for Peace gather to study and share their perspectives on Buddhist philosophy.
The Buddhist approach is to “look in and down into us, instead of looking out and up,” said Alvin Huang, the group’s Religious Life Affiliate.
Huang believes that people who have not previously been exposed to Buddhism “hold a very conventional idea about religion” and may think that all religions involve “powerful beings out there for people to believe or even worship.”
But he said that in Buddhism, “the object of our worship is Buddha, which means you and I.”
Huang said that the diversity of the group, which includes both believers and those just interested in learning more about Buddhism, creates “very interesting conversation.”
“We all have questions of ‘Where did I come from? Who am I? What is right and wrong?,’’’ said Paul Smith, who serves as the Religious Life Affiliate for the Baha’i Faith. Smith says he helps students “explore ideas of spirituality” by facilitating weekly Sunday devotional gatherings and Thursday fireside discussions, as well as meeting with community members one-on-one.
For students needing interpersonal care and support, the University offers individual meetings with chaplains, according to Cooper Nelson, the University chaplain. She added that these services are confidential.
OCRL works to foster a sense of belonging for students who feel disconnected from campus, Cooper Nelson said, noting that “every single person that is in the Brown community matters.”
Toft, the associate chaplain for the Muslim community, said his role in providing pastoral care is “as varied as human beings are.”
When students approach Toft, he says they often entrust him with “something that is perhaps even more valuable than their physical possessions,” such as their private thoughts. “That’s a really weighty responsibility that I take seriously as a Muslim and, as a team, we take seriously as chaplains.”
OCRL hopes that their work will ensure that the diverse religious views on campus will be heard and supported. Cooper Nelson highlighted the inclusive nature of Brown’s religious groups: “You’re not going to be disqualified, nor do you have to qualify, right? It’s just an open door.”
She said that students often have the opportunity to learn from one another in religious spaces at Brown, drawing a parallel to academic spaces. “It’s all learning,” she said, but during students’ time in college, “some of the learning you have to do is in your heart.”
Grace Hu is a senior staff writer covering graduate student life. She is a sophomore from Massachusetts studying English and Neuroscience.
